The Student Newspaper of Mount Saint Joseph High School

NBC Nightly News, taking a chance at positivity

NBC Nightly News has an inspirational segment at the end of every broadcast. The 5-minute segment is usually something either inspirational or positive to end the broadcast. I think if every news station had a positive segment at the end of every broadcast it could inspire Americans to go out and to do something to benefit society.

Image courtesy of NBC Nightly News

One of NBC Nightly News’ segments is called Inspiring America. Inspiring America points out something good that someone or a group of people has done. I think it is important to add something positive to the news because the news tends to be focused on the negative. It is extremely common for one of the first things that you will hear when you watch the news is either a killing or another crime of some sort. I do think that there are negative events in the news that interest people, but at the same time I also think that there could be a way to add positive messages in the news that would also interest people.

There are some very positive stories on the NBC Nightly News segment Inspiring America that people could find interesting, as well as inspiring. One story is about how four girls fought through cancer with friendship. Stories like these try to promote positivity in the world which the news media could use more of today.

Another example of a positive story on NBC Nightly News is about a kindergarten class that surprised a deaf man by using sign language to sing happy birthday to him. A story like this can bring a smile to someone’s face that may be having a rough day.

A lot of news stations now are the same, NBC Nightly News and NBC are one of the only news stations to add an inspirational segment to their broadcasts. Other news stations like Inside Edition will add something positive at the end of their broadcast, but many talk about major events that are occurring in the world today. In watching the news, I have noticed that it is like watching the same thing over and over again. So many people after hearing the same thing over and over again do not want to watch the news. So, if you add a positive story that stands out you may get more people to want to start watching the news for that specific purpose.

Not only for the aspect of the number of views a news station gets, but it is also important to realize that the world today has been filled with negativity. News media like Fox and CNN have reporters arguing constantly about politics or something of that nature. It’s also hard to say that anyone who watches the news wants to walk home after a rough day of school or work to see something negative on the news. For example, no one is going to want to walk home after a rough day of work and see a news report about another mass shooting. If you add a positive message for those who may be having a rough day or be going through something negative in their lives, then it could inspire those people to go and thrive to do the best they can in society.

Christian Avara, Senior

Christian Avara is a senior and a member of the Multimedia Journalism class.